Essay Assignment One
English 11 Mr. Mullen

Directions: Write a well-organized essay about one of the topics below. Regardless of the topic, make sure you provide quotes from the novel to back up what you’re stating in your thesis. Papers should be approximately 2-4 pages.

Due Dates: Due Tues., Nov. 4

*Chatting with me (and others) about your essay will be available on Sun., Nov. 2, from 1-3pm.

1. Every writer we’ll encounter in this class has a certain idea about the America he or she lives in. But he or she also might write about the America one wants to live in. Fitzgerald maybe looks at this more than any American writer. So my question here is this: What vision of America does this novel suggest? And, what shapes that vision in the book?
2. The last line of the novel is “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”(189). Why does Fitzgerald end the novel this way?
3. This is certainly a novel about the power of storytelling. One might argue that the reality we believe in is created by the stories we accept as true. With this in mind, how trustworthy is Nick Carraway, our narrator and storyteller?

*I would like all essays to be double-spaced, use MLA format, and provide page numbers for all quotes.

Come see me if you need any help.

Good luck! We’re all counting on ya!

Sincerely,

Mr. Mullen